Did you know that anemia is one of the most common blood disorders in the world? In fact, over 1.6 billion people worldwide struggle with anemia.
So, what is anemia? Well, “anemia is a condition in which you lack enough healthy red blood cells to carry adequate oxygen to your body’s tissues. Having anemia, also referred to as low hemoglobin, can make you feel tired and weak.”
We had the pleasure of chatting with Erika Tyburski, Co-founder & CEO, of Sanguina. Erika shared that she has struggled with anemia since she was child. After focusing on STEM for the better part of her high school and college studies, Erika decided to focus her senior project on an anemia management tool. From there, a kickass senior project blossomed into a full-fledged company. Meet Sanguina.
Sanguina is revolutionizing at-home testing.
Sanguina has two products available including AnemoCheck Mobile and AnemoCheck Home. Erika explained that AnemoCheck Mobile is an app that uses “the power of smartphones and some machine learning.” With the help of a quick image of your nails, the app analyzes your nail bed thanks to an “algorithm that essentially correlates a hemoglobin level estimate.”
Similarly, AnemoCheck Home is an at-home test that allows you to extract a drop of blood from your finger. From there, you will “mix it into the test kit. A solution will be formed, and the color of that solution will tell you your hemoglobin estimation.”
Both products are revolutionizing at-home testing and helping make the process of tracking your hemoglobin levels easy and accurate.
The future is looking bright.
We asked Erika how Sanguina has grown and acquired funding over the years. She shared that “truth be told we have accumulated probably around 3.5 million in grant funding alone.” However, during the pandemic, Sanguina realized that it needed to shift its model and provide more easily accessible at-home tests. Thanks to a very successful seed round of funding with XRC Labs, Sanguina was able to bring in 2.2 million.
We asked Erika what her daily non-negotiable is for her and her team. She shared, “I would say integrity. So, being that we’re in the health and wellness space, one of the things I’m extremely focused on is maintaining transparency with data, how we develop our technologies, and the science behind it.”
And, we couldn’t agree more! We are excited to see what Sanguina does next and all the people their testing kits will positively impact.
Have you given Sanguina a try? Let us know @StarterNoise.
